Battling the Sycophant Spirit

Battling the Sycophant Spirit

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Ephesians 6:10-13 (NKJV) 
^“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

John the Baptist preached, “And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  (Matthew 3:10 NKJV)  It is time to lay the ax to the root.

Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against evil spiritual forces.  We must lay the ax to those spiritual forces driving the negativity, whining, name calling and blame shifting.

One of the most prominent spiritual forces influencing our nation is a sycophant spirit.  A sycophant is a servile self-seeking flatterer or one who praises influential people in order to gain their favor; a slanderer, a deceiver, or a parasite. A sycophant will say just what people want to hear in order to get something from them—usually money or political support.  Sycophants want others to be dependent on them in order to exercise control.

Satan is the greatest of all sycophants.  Notice what he said to our Lord on the mountain of temptation: “Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  (Luke 4:5-7 NKJV)

            Jesus put the devil in his place, “And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' "  (Luke 4:8 NKJV) 

            Later the Lord spoke to a group who believed Him but who did not recognize the bondage they were in because of the self-righteousness in their lives, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” (John 8:44 NKJV)        

            Every lie is from the pit of hell.

                       

            Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible states, “Flatterers, sycophants, tricking and fraudulent persons, who seek to supplant others, and get into their places; these should lose the favour they had, when detected.”

            How do we war against the sycophant spirit?  The first battle in the war is to make sure that we are not operating under that spirit either as an instigator or as a victim.  Then we can pray in power and authority to rebuke that lying, self-seeking spirit and call forth a spirit of truth and honesty over ourselves, over our media and over our nation.  

                ^“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’" (John 8:31-32 NKJ)

           

            Let us speak truth and search for truth from media and our leaders. Let us refuse to be bribed, flattered and wrongly persuaded by those who are seeking our support and our permission in order to erode our freedoms.